My first trip of the year was a Family Day weekend (second weekend in February) trip with the Alpine Club of Canada’s (ACC) Toronto Section to the White Mountains in New Hampshire. This was an area I had been looking to visit for some time, and offers some great winter recreation activities, like snowshoeing, ice climbing and winter mountaineering. This would be my first event with the ACC Toronto section and it ended up being a lot of fun (mostly Type 2) and met a lot of great people. I was especially looking forward to attempting Mount Washington, the highest peak in New Hampshire and notorious for its vicious, unpredictable weather (comparable to the Himalayas).
This would also be my first trip since a pretty bizarre back injury I sustained mid January. I somehow got some pretty intense lower back pain which prevented me from doing most physical activity for two weeks, and caused my second attempt at heading down to the ADK for the 46 finish to be scuttled. However things started getting a bit better after a while (was able to bike – yes winter has been non-existent in Toronto – as well as do some light swimming), so hiking seemed back on the table. Ice climbing was a bit up in the air, however, as the one time I tried rock climbing, I was still in quite a bit of discomfort with the various contortions that are required. But I figured for this NH trip that there’d be plenty to do that wasn’t ice climbing.
Day 1
For the trip I carpooled and roomed with Robert and William, the latter of whom I had already met at an ACC Toronto pub night. The plan was to take my car, but I had some doubts that it was suitable given its size and the amount of weight it would be carrying (people plus gear). After rushing through some last minute work things and ensuring the cat was sufficiently fed (this would be the longest I had left her alone, another thing I was iffy about), I set out to pick up William and Robert at their places. They don’t live too far from me, but conveniently Toronto was hit with its biggest snowfall of the season a couple hours before I left, so it took a while to get them both picked up. Then, as we were leaving William’s place, we decided to switch vehicles – initially Robert’s (but his partner needed the car that weekend) then we settled on William’s partner’s Mazda, which was much roomier. I ended up parking my car at William’s street parking and his partner printed a temporary pass. We finally hit the road at around 5pm.
The drive was extremely slow. Leaving Toronto was a pain, as expected, and the 401 was covered in snow most of the way to Quebec. We took turns driving and listened to CBC Radio, which had some pretty good content playing. In addition Robert’s partner, Barb gave us some treats for the road – thank you!
We made a couple stops for food and fuel and eventually made it to the border at Vermont at around 2am, then finally got to the AMC Highland Center, in Crawford Notch, just after 4am. Probably the worst drive I’ve ever done in my life, and thankfully the three of us shared driving duties! It took us some time to figure out which room was ours as well as getting access, but we eventually went to bed bright and early at 4:30am.
Day 2
It was only about four hours sleep for our car, but luckily we were still able to grab buffet breakfast downstairs and get the scoop on the plans for the day. I opted to join a group going ice climbing at Frankenstein Cliffs, an area which features several routes for rock and ice climbing. Rob, one of the trip leaders, was planning on running an ice climbing clinic at the location to give the newbies to ice climbing (specifically, me) some instruction on ice climbing techniques. As I stupidly forgot my harness and climbing gear at home (thinking I would not be climbing due to my back injury), I was lent a very skimpy mountaineering harness by Robert, and some ice tools by Rob.
A bunch of us met at the Arethusa Falls trailhead and we hiked up to the Cog tracks, which provided access to the various cliffs which made up the Frankenstein cliffs. Although walking along the tracks is a no-no due to the trains, the tracks were covered in snow and ice and carefully walked along them anyway to access the cliffs.
There are eight climbing areas at Frankenstein, each with several routes. Our goal was the Standard Route Area, but upon arriving there were around eleven people climbing already, with only one line visible. We opted to backtrack and try the Lost In the Woods Area, but the ice was not particularly great. So we backtracked further to the Amphitheatre Area, where a few other folks from our group were already climbing. Lots of space so we set up shop there.
While the others set up ropes and began climbing, I spent some time with Rob (William and Yousaf joined for a bit) who demonstrated several ice climbing techniques, including cutting out a belay station, inserting ice screws, creating Abalakov threads, and reviewing knots like double fishermans. I then got a chance to try some ice climbing on top rope – it was hard! I did use mountaineering crampons rather than ice climbing crampons, but my challenge was the actual technique of using the ice tools. Luckily my back didn’t give me too much trouble!
It was a pretty short day, so I only got the one run of the route in, but I learned a lot so I’ll take it. After waiting for the gear and ropes to be cleaned, we hiked back to the cars and headed back to the Highland Center. The dinner was very good – fettucine and salmon – best meal on the trip. After dinner, we discussed the following day’s objective – Mount Washington.
Day 3
The event I was looking most forward to was Mount Washington, as this would be more up my alley (seeing I am new to ice climbing). For the day, 12 of the 14 in our group planned to attempt the summit, and we split into two groups of six, a slower group led by Bryan, and a faster group led by Rob. I wouldn’t call myself a super fast hiker/climber, but I felt the faster group (also including William, Robert, Tim and Oliver) were a good fit. We set out about 30 mins after the first group, parking at Joe Dodge Lodge in Pinkham Notch. We would be taking the Lion’s Head winter route up, which is the most common mountaineering/hiking route in the winter.
Very early on we encountered Bryan who was returning to the parking lot, as he wasn’t feeling up for the trek, and learned Mylissa had a migraine so she opted to sit out the day, leaving ten of us total attempting the ascent. We quickly caught up to the rest of the earlier group who were a bit late setting out and joined forces, though the group spread out a bit. I was feeling pretty strong and fit despite my lack of recent training due to my back injury, but was getting pretty warm and sweaty on the initial trail, which was a steady incline on groomed snow. So I opted to hang at the back of the group to manage my temperature and energy levels, and felt pretty good after an hour or so when we stopped for a quick break.
Shortly thereafter we made the turn onto the Lion’s Head winter trail, and despite still being in the woods, we donned our crampons and pulled out axes as the trail would be getting steeper shortly. The next section of trail requires some use of axe and a static rope, but wasn’t super technical. Crampons were super huge even here, we saw folks in snowshoes and microspikes struggling up some of the steeper sections. Eventually we reached about 4500 feet where the alpine zone began and the temperature plummeted as the tree line vanished. It was here we layered up (I had to take off my crampons, boots and gaiters to get my shell pants on) as well as donning balaclava and ski goggles to ward off the wind.
The next part of the hike up to the actual Lion’s Head, a large rock feature partway up Washington, wasn’t too bad but the wind started to pick up. I was pretty warm and toasty though my ski goggles were a bit loose, so that in combination with my balaclava not being super compatible caused them to fog up and eventually freeze. But I was still able to follow the group, which began dwindling as the conditions got worse. Eventually it was just six of us remaining – Tim dropped out from the late group, with Stephen, the last man standing from the earlier group taking his place.
After working our way through the Alpine Garden, the wind really picked up as we approached the summit plateau in near whiteout conditions. Despite these being conditions I wouldn’t hike in solo, I felt comfortable given we were in a big group and eventually, despite some hesitancy about continuing on, we hit the auto road about 50 meters from the summit sign, so we pressed on the last few meters and William snapped some quick photos of the group at the summit sign. We then began to descend.
There were two lines of thought regarding the descent route – Rob was in favor of taking the auto road, which was longer but substantially easier to follow given the deteriorating conditions. William and Robert felt retracing our steps back to the Lion’s Head would be better, given GPS was accessible. Myself, Oliver and Stephen decided to join Rob on the auto road while William and Robert took the trail. The auto road had probably the worst conditions of the day. Given it was on the north side of the peak, the wind was particularly ferocious, and the snow drifts were almost waist high near the top. At this point I could not see a thing through my goggles so I removed them, exposing my face to the wind, though luckily the wind was at our backs for a while. I also swapped into my mitts as my fingers were quite cold, but otherwise felt warm overall!
The route down was long and tiring. The terrain up high was tricky with the winds which were nearly pushing us over along with the snow drifts, but leaving the alpine zone the road became groomed and much easier and comfortable to travel. As the road looped north we got a great view of Mount Adams and Mount Madison in the distance. Finally after a long 10km hike down the road (made better by the conversations!) we arrived at the bottom.
The auto road is about 2km from Joe Dodge Lodge where we began our hike, and since William’s car had been taken by Tim, and Rob’s car was at the lodge, the six of us needed to get a lift back to the Highland Center. As Oliver, Stephen and I finished eating our (very late) lunches, Rob took off and took a right at the main road. We believed he was going the wrong way (sorry for doubting you!) as we thought Joe Dodge was to the left, so the three of us headed left, trying to hitchhike. Eventually a local guy in a pickup truck picked us up and we began the drive to what we thought was the lodge. However it turns out we were mistaken and Rob was right, so the pickup truck driver had to drive back and forth a bunch until we realized where the lodge was. Legitimately the coldest I had been all day was crouching in the bed of that truck!
When we finally pulled into Joe Dodge Lodge, Rob was waiting for us in his vehicle – he had been picked up by Bryan while hitchhiking the correct direction, and Robert/William were already on their way back to the Highland Center. We made it back for dinner which was a huge relief, and I realized that I had some moderate frostbite on my wrist (a tiny area had been exposed for a good chunk of the time in the alpine zone) as well as some on the left side of my face (as did Oliver).
After dinner we hung out in the library and were entertained by a short video “Hobnails and Hemp Rope” starring Bryan and Rob, where they attempted to replicate the great Conrad Kain’s first ascent of the Bugaboo Spire in 1916 with replica gear and eating the same foods that Kain’s party would have used (including hobnail boots, hemp rope, fir branches for mattresses, and wool blankets – “fantastic” in the wet!). It was pretty cool watching considering I had been in that area for my alpine rock course a few months prior. Highly recommend watching.
Day 4
Sunday started off pretty relaxed after the big day on the big guy on Saturday. The plan was to split into smaller groups and head out to Shoestring Gully for some ice climbing. One group (Bryan, Robert, and Elena) set out in the morning while the other two groups (Geoff/Yousaf/me and Rob/Stephen/Mylissa/William) headed out around noon. Being just south of Mount Jackson, it was a short drive over and we started the ~75 minute hike along the Saco River Trail up to where we could stage for the climb. It was a gorgeous day and we were quite warm on the hike up. The hike started fairly flat and gradually increased in incline; eventually we donned crampons and got roped up.
The ice was fairly easy going, maybe at 45 degrees for most of the climbing with large sections of snow as well as a few more technical ice spots. The gully is bounded by rock on both sides up high and once the sun descended, it got quite chilly in the shade. There are actually a number of exits which vary in difficulty – we found out that Bryan’s team had inadvertently taken the 5.5 rock exit later on! For the climbing we did the first pitch with no rope, the next three pitches one at a time with protection, and the final pitch simul-climbing on a short rope. I was in the middle, with Geoff leading (setting up anchors/protection) and Yousaf cleaning. I used an ascender as I climbed which was a neat little device that only goes one way (preventing falling) but I had to pull it up as I went. For the easier sections of ice, I held both ice tools (generously lent to me by Tim) with one hand while pulling the ascender with the other.
Was a bit slow getting going as we were behind Rob’s party and there was a local couple also climbing, but once we got into a good rhythm it was pretty fun, except for the long-ish waits at the belay stations. It turned out that Bryan’s team had taken a lot longer than planned to ascend the gully, so Geoff asked them to wait for us as it was getting dark, just to be safe. They ended up waiting 90 mins for us at the top! We finished the last pitch as it was getting dark and then began the long hike down.
This hike down was probably my least favourite part of the whole weekend. Boots/crampons pretty uncomfortable to walk in after a long weekend, trail was riddled with postholes, and we were moving pretty quickly. It was a huge relief to hear vehicles driving by on Crawford Notch Rd and see headlights. We rushed back to the lodge and made it with plenty of time to spare for dinner. After dinner a large group of us sat in a room to watch a couple videos – one was a silent film showing the first ascent of Mount Logan in the Yukon, which Bryan and Rob plan to replicate in 2025. This route involves a long trek by horse from McCarthy, Alaska, along with using replica gear from the day. Doing that route today is more complex given the receding of the glacier! Looking forward to seeing how they fare. We then watched The Mystery Mountain Project, which depicted Bryan’s attempt to replicate the first time accessing Mount Waddington in BC, the highest mountain that is entirely located in the province (Mount Fairweather is the official high point, though it is partly located in Alaska). The mountain was first observed in 1925 by the renowned couple Don and Phyllis Munday, and they made several attempts to climb it over the next few years. by Getting commentary from Rob and Bryan made the watch quite the experience. It truly was a gruelling trek through some harsh terrain (including some bushwhacking that made my White Hill experience look like a walk in the park) and it truly is a testament to the fortitude of the Mundays.
Day 5
After getting up around 7am, I went down for breakfast and it seemed like most of the folks in our group had already wrapped up breakfast and were on their way home. Alec and Laura seemed like they might be sticking around a little bit longer, but we encountered quite a few folks on their way out. After breakfast, we packed up our gear and relaxed a bit in the lodge – we thought about doing a quick snowshoe hike before leaving but we were pretty wiped from the last couple days.
The drive back was largely uneventful – we stopped for poutine after crossing the border, and made several detours into small town Ontario to skip a bunch of traffic jams on the 401. We got back to the city at around 7pm. After dropping Robert off, I picked up my car, thanked William’s partner Kelsey for printing a parking pass for me, then headed back. My cat Pepper was absolutely ecstatic to see me (or rather, ecstatic to get food!).
Super fun trip with some awesome people! Looking forward to climbing with these folks in the future as well as attending more events with the ACC Toronto section!
Veg 'n' Alpine 